News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

This article was first published 7 years ago
Rediff.com  » News » Agusta case: Now Congress asks 3 counter questions to BJP

Agusta case: Now Congress asks 3 counter questions to BJP

Source: ANI
April 30, 2016 10:28 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party is expert at levelling allegations, the Congress on Saturday accused the former of conspiring against it and asked three counter questions in connection with the ongoing debate on the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal controversy.

Alleging that the BJP was making ‘mountain out of a molehill’, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked if the AgustaWestland was a ‘fraud’ company, then why did the government allow it to participate in several of defence related events, such as the Defence Expo.

“(Bharatiya Janata Party president) Amit Shah and the BJP are experts of leveling allegations, they are making a mountain out of a molehill. They are conspiring against the Congress and its leadership, but truth will prevail as empty vessels make more noise,” he said.

“Amit Shah raised three questions. We now seek answers for three questions. Amit Shah says that AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica are fraud companies. If AgustaWestland is a fraud company then why are they protecting it for two years? Why was AgustaWestland part of the Defence Expo? If it is fraud then why did your government give FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) permission it on October 8, 2015?...If it is a fraud company then is your government part of that fraud,” he further asked.

Continuing his tirade against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Shah had on Friday posed series of questions and sought Gandhi’s answer in the matter.

Highlighting that the tender could be signed only by the Original Equipment Manufacturers, the BJP president questioned AgustaWestland’s signing the tender despite not being the original manufacturer.

Shah questioned Gandhi that under whose direction the provisions in tender was tempered with. Shah also questioned that when the deal of the helicopters had happened, the field evaluation trial was to be done in India and later it was changed.

Shah pressed that if such permission of changes in the tender was given by the then defence minister A K Antony, Congress chief answer for the same.

James Christian Michel, the accused middleman in the chopper deal, has offered himself up for questioning by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Michel told The Hindu from Dubai earlier this week that he was willing to answer all questions from the Indian investigators in order 'to clear' his name, but insisted he had never met the Congress president or a ‘single Gandhi’ in his life.

Meanwhile, former Union minister Veerappa Moily on Saturday said the Congress took immediate steps after having found out some transactions of bribery in the AgustaWestland deal.

“The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government, after having found some transactions of bribery, took immediate steps to institute a CBI inquiry. Thereafter, the contract was cancelled. We filed a case before the Milan. Firm steps were taken in name of integrity,” Moily said.

He further stated that the negotiation for Agusta began during former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime and all his advisors and defence ministers were involved.

Moily alleged that the National Democratic Alliance government has a habit to encourage the terrorists as a witness. 

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: ANI
 
CHINESE CHALLENGE - 2022

CHINESE CHALLENGE